Garment



June 20, 1950 B. P. GARRISON GARMENT 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 14, 1946 June 1950 B. P. GARRISON 2,511,977

GARMENT Filed Nov. 14-, 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 58mm PauZz'zzeGazrLsozc.

June 20, 1950 B. P. GARRISON GARMENT 4 Sheets-Shet 3 Filed Nov. 14, 1946 v F5071- Bertz'ne p ufima anm.

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June 20, 1950 p GARRISQN 2,511,977

GARMENT 7 Filed Nov. 14. 1946 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Patented June 20, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GARMENT Bertice Pauline Garrison, Seattle, Wash.

Application November 14, 1946, Serial No. 709,767

6 Claims.

'26, 1945, now Patent No. 2,412,502, being more specifically an adaptation of the principles there disclosed, now modified to adapt the garment for use as sleeping apparel.

The new construction provides a sleeping garment which may beregarded as a sort of combination of a pajama and night shirt,and a principal object is to incorporate in a single new type of garment the main advantages'of both of the older types of garment and to eliminate the disadvantages of the older types.

Important objects are to provide'a garment of the class indicated which will be unusually comfortable to wear, which will be attractive in appearance and which will provide adequate coverage for the wearer, whether reclining, sitting, standing or walking.

Other objects are to provide a garment which will be simple in pattern and construction and which can be readily and economically made, which is easy to put on and take off, which will be cool when worn in warm weather, which will readily accommodate itself to bending and stretching movements of the wearer without becoming disarranged or causing discomfort resulting from stress or pulls on portions of the garment, and which will have numerous other and further advantages as will be evident from the description hereinafter of certain embodiments of the invention which have been actually used and tested and have given satisfaction and are therefore at present preferred.

An important feature of the invention is the inclusion, in a one-piece sleeping garment which is generally of the night shirt type, of an originally depending panel provided with means for supporting it to provide the effect of a pair of trousers, thus giving the whole garment the'coverage and other advantages provided byxsconuentional pajamasfa'nd a related feature is the use, in the crotch ortion of such a garment, loi biascut material providing two-way stretch ior'the purpose of eliminating uncomfortable constrictions and thereby increasing the nomfort with which the garment may .be wornevenwhen the wearer moves or stretches m' a reclining or .sit-

- ting position.

2 The accompanying drawings illustrate the presently preferred embodiments of the invention which are selected to illustrate the novel principles. without, however, any intention of limiting those principles to the precise details shown in the drawings.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of one form of the new garment, with the parts shown in the positions which they assume before the garment is put on;

Fig. 2 is a rear elevational view of the same garment, with the parts shown in the same positions; r g

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of the garment with the parts shown in the positions which they assume when the garment is being worn;

' Fig. 4 is a rear elevational view of the same garment, with the parts shown in the same positions;

Fig. "5 is an exploded front elevational view, otherwise like that of Fig. 1 but showing a modi- ,ficatlon; V

Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are respectively views corresponding exactly to those of Figs. 2, 3 and 4, but

showingthe modification of Fig. 5;

Fig. '9 is an exploded front elevational view like that of Fig. 5 but showing a still further modification;

- Figs.i10, l1 and 1'2are respectively views corresponding to athoseof Figs. 6, 7 and 8 but show- .ingthelmodification-of Fig.19;

.Fig; 13 is a detail elevational view showing a preferred form of crotch construction;

Figs. 14' and 14a, are plan views of two different kinds of crotch panels which may be used in Figs. .5 and 13;

Fig. 15 is a .detail elevationalview showing the form of crotch construction used in Fig. 9;

Fig. '16 is a plan View of the crotch panel used in Fig. 15; and

Fig. 17 is a planview of the lower portion of a shirt showing how one of. its panels is cut to receive the crotch panel.

The new construction provides a sleeping garment consisting principally of an upper or'shirt portion, having a front side and a'rear side from wone or the other of which a trousers panel depends. This panel comprises front and rear trousers portions connected by an intermediate crotch-portion. The free edge of the trousers panel is provided at itsside margins with extended belt members. These members are arranged to be passed through openings in the sides of the shirt, located more or less directly beneath the arm or sleeve openings and at about the waist line level, so that after the belt members have been inserted through these openings they may be drawn together and fastened, as by buttoning or tying their ends together at about the transverse middle of the garment, in the front or the back thereof, depending on whether the trousers panel hangs from the back or front of the shirt portion. The belt members will, when their ends are connected together, cooperate with the free end of the trousers panel so that the 'wearers waist is completely encircled. Thus the trousers panel is securely and comfortably held up in position to provide the effect of a pair of trousers:

However, the vertical side edges of the trousers panel are or may be left free and unsecured with with the panels supported at their front and rear only, and unconnected at their sides. In fact,

the back of the trousers and the back of the shirt are formed by the same single piece of material,

relation to all other parts of the garment; so that i there is no tension or constriction imposed on a.

the wearer. Moreover, in the preferred embodiments of the invention the crotch portion of the trousers is made of bias-cut material which is capable of free stretching vertically or horizontally, so that objectionable tension and constriction in the crotch are eliminated.

All of the foregoing features are embodied in those species of the invention which are depicted in the drawings and which will now be described, but it is understood'thaticertain of the several features are capable of. being'jused separably in different garments and need not all be used in combination, except to the extent.

pointed out by the appended claims which define the novelty of the inventive principles. of the new construction.

Referring to the drawings, the embodimentof the invention shown in Figs. 1-4 includes at l a more or less conventional type of shirt member of a sleeping garment, comprising a front panel 2 and a rear panel 3, which are of equal length and are best but not necessarily made long enough to terminate at or somewhatabove'the knees of the wearer. This shirt member may be provided with an upper front buttonedopening, a collar, a pair of sleeves, a pocket, andother conventional'features as vmay be desired. 9.;

A trousers xpanel, generally designated .4, depends from the shirt member. In the Figs. 1-4.- embodiment of the invention this panel :depends from the rear panel 3 of the shirt being". made integral therewith. It comprises anzupper or inner wide portioni, the shape-of which merges into the rear panelof the shirt, and-alow'eror outer wide portion 6, which is best made slightly narrower than the panel 3 of the shirt. The wide portions 5 and 6 are connected to eachi other by an intervening comparatively narrow crotch portion 7. The preferred shape of the general outline of the trousers panel I is best; shown in Fig. 2. I 1

The free end of the trousers panel may be hemmed to provide a waist band 8, from-' the opposite ends of which. belt members 9 extend. The proportions of the parts of the trousers panel are such that when the garment-is put on the portion 6 of the panel can beraised between the legs of the wearer and extended across the lower front portion of the trunk of thewearer, with the waist band 8 at about the level ofthe waist. In this position the portions 5 and 6"wil1 form respectively the back and front of a virtual pair of trousers, with the portion 7 loosely fitting the crotch ofthe wearer and positioned somewhat below the .level of the bottom. of the shirt I, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4.

The trousers are held in this position by passing the beltmembers 9 through belt openingsr'lll backconstructionof the Figs. 5-8 embodiment and the sides of the trousers front portion 6 are -free,'being supported from the waist of the wearer solely. by the fit of the belt members 9 through the openings l0.

Because of these features of the construction the substantially concealed trousers hang more 'in the manner of an apron than in the manner of a pair of drawers or pants.

However, because of the flaring shape of the portion 6 of the trousers panel by which the part which becomes the front, of the suspended trousers is appreciably gwiderthan the part which becomes the rear thereof, as clearly appears in Fig. 4, the coverage provided by the trousers across the groin of the wearer. is fully equal to that provided by conventional complete or all-around drawers or pants.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 5-8, the shirt member l3 may be made in the form of a full front opening coat having a single closed back panel, it. Here again, as in the previous embodiment, thedetails of the front of the shirt member,. such as the collar, pocket, style and -length of opening, are unimportant and subject to variation and selection. In'both embodiments thenoveltyis inthe back of the shirt, and the that of Figs. 1-4 in the edges 15. which can be parted acute angularly to regularly hexagonal shape shown in Fig. 14a.

The-panel I6 is .madeof material out on the bias. Two similarly shaped half sheets of materiahifia and lGamay be sewed together along curvedlines lfib as indicated in Fig. 14., or a single integral sheetmay be used, as shown in Fig. 140..

In either case the panel has a. comparatively short ,top edge I! from'which. upper side edges l8, each of which is made of the same length as the kerf edges 15, diverge outwardly at obtuse angles.

From the outer ends of these edges l8, somewhat shorter lower side edges is converge toward the bottom edge 20 which is longer than the top edge 4 1, 'all as clearly appears in Figs. 14 and 14a.

' This panel l6 is-joined to the shirt member (specifically, in the particular embodiment which is now being described, to the rear panel of the'shirt member, although the reference character Ain Fig. 13 maybe regarded as designating either. the front or rear panel-of any of the shirts of. the different embodiments) by tucking or gathering the top edgefl andstitchingits thereby reduced length into the narrow top of the kerf formed by the edges IS. The upper side edges l8 are then stitched to the edges I5, and,, since the lines I and I8 areof equal length, the edges I9 will extend from the ,bottomfof the shirt panel. The bottom edge'20 is then stitched to the top edge 2I'f'of the trousers front panel 22, as indicated in Figs. 5, 6 and 13. Optionally the front panel 22 of the trousers may be provided with a buttoned fly opening, and with snap fastener elements or their equivalent 23 at or near the intersection of its side and bottom edges for cooperation with other snap fastener elements or the like 24 formed at the lower portions of the sides of the shirt rear panel l4, asshown in Fig. 6. The fastener elements 23 and 24 may, it is to understood, be connected together when the trousers panel is held up in place, which is accomplished by passing the belt members 25 through openings 26 in the shirt and tying or otherwise fastening the ends together at 21 in the back of the garment, in' the same way as has been explained in the description of the first embodiment of the invention.

The trousers front panel 22 may be and preferably is cut on the straight, but the crotch panel insert I6 is cut on the bias. If, as is preferred, the crotch panel is made of one piece of material as shown in Fig. 140., it has the advantage of being seamless in its center portion. If it is made of two halves'sewed together along the curved lines I6b as indicated in Fig. 14, the panel has the advantage of added fullness. In either case, the bias cut, togetherwith the fullness provided by the two-part construction and/or by the gathering of the length N :into the narrower upper end of the kerf formed by the edges I5, makes the crotch extremely comfortable to'wear, eliminating all frictional stress on the body resulting from movements of the wearer.

When the garment is worn the fasteners 23 at each side of the trousers front panel may optionally be connected to or' left disconnected from the cooperating fasteners 24 provided at the lower sides of the shirt. When left unconnected the effect is like that of the trousers portion of the first described embodiment of the invention. When the fasteners are connected the lower edge of the trousers front is kept securely expanded across the front of the wearer and the trousers front is securely maintained in this position, the wearers legs being at all times encircled by the trousers front and the shirt back.

In the embodiment shown in Figs. 9-12, the shirt member 28 is made without a collar and with an opening at its top only, but it will be evident that the styling of this shirt might equally well take the form shown in Fig. 1. In this third illustrated embodiment of the invention the front portion 29 of the shirt supports and has connected to it a trousers front panel 30, which may be made generally like the panels 4 and 22 of the previously described embodiments, with or without a fly opening, but containing a waistband element having belt members 3| adapted to be passed into the openings 32 at the sides of the shirt member and to be passed around to the front of the wearer and be there connected together as for example by being tied in a knot 33. It will be evident that since this trousers panel depends from the front of the shirt, it will extend upwardly at the back of the wearer, which will require the belt members to be tied in the front, in order to make the waistband element and belt members 3I completely encircle the trunk of the wearer in the manner of a continuous belt so asto support the trousers panel upright. 7

An important difference between the embodiment in Figs. 3-12 and those previously described consists in the formation'of'the crotch insert 34. This insert is made from a sheet of biascut material of the shape shown in Fig. 16, which may best be described as consisting in effect of a pair of sheets of the shape shown at I6 in Fig. 14a integrally connected along what would be their common meeting lines 20. This panel thus has a pair of short upper and lower edges 35, each corresponding to the edge I! of the panel I5, four edges 36 each corresponding to an edge I8 of the panel I6, and four edges 31 each corresponding to an edge I9 of the panel IS.

The front of the shirt member 28 is kerfed centrally vertically, as shown at I5 in Fig. 1'7, where the sheet A may be regarded as showing the front of the shirt 28. The kerf is opened angularly and the panel 34 inserted by tucking or gathering one of its short edges 35 and sewing it in the upper end of the kerf, with the adjacent edges 36 sewed to the two edges I5, as shown in Fig. 15.

The trousers panel 30 is cut open from its top edge, i. e., that edge which is uppermost when the panel hangs free, and the lower portion, comprising'the lower edges 35 and 36, 36, of the crotch panel 34 is sewed into this cut, as indi cated in Figs. 9 and 15. The'cut may be made in the manner of the kerf with its edges I5 as shown in the portionA in Fig. 17 and previously described, but it can be made alternatively in the different manner indicated in Figs. 9 and 15. In that form of the invention the sheet. from which the trousers panel 33 is made is originally substantially rectangular in shape. It is cut in from the center of its top edge to produce an upwardly flaring opening exactly like the kerf of Fig. 17

except that the sides of the cut, corresponding to the edges I5, diverge or flare upwardly and outwardly, so that the opening is not rectangular but is somewhat bluntly wedge-shaped. Then the lower or waistband edge of the trousers panel is gathered or tucked, which increases the flaring of the edges of the opening to the final shape shown in Fig. 9.

The lower short length 35 of the crotch panel 34 is then gathered and sewed into the bottom end of the opening. The adjacent two edges 36 of the crotch panel are then sewed along the edges of the opening, leaving the four edges 31 to form the free side edges of the crotch, all as shown in Fig. 15. This provides a crotch portion cut on the bias in both the front and the rear of the crotch when the garment is being worn with the trousers panel supported by its belt members. Such a crotch construction is stretchable in all directions over its entire area, both front and rear, and has the fullness resulting from tucking or gathering the edges 35 and thus exhibits to an increased degree the advantages hereinabove explained in connection with the panel I6.

It is to be understood that what may be called the double crotch panel 34 may be used instead of what may be considered the single crotch panel IS in any of the several embodiments of the invention.

Not specifically illustrated by the drawing, but believed to be obvious from what is there shown and has been hereinabove explained, is a further modification in which a bias-cut crotch panel I6 is inserted into the trousers panel with its edge 20 stitched to the front or back panel or the shirt member. Th'usthe' garmentmay be made with bias-cut material inserted in the front of the crotch portion, or in the rear ofthe "crotch portion, orin both the front and rear of the crotchfportion. I

vI claimfhv v 1. A garment of the'class described comprising .a shirt member having .a waistband zone and front and rear panels of substantially equal width .eachof which depends as a'skirt portion'havingl a bottom edge belowsaid waistband zone, sleeve openings in the upper portion of the shirt member, and the'jwaistband zone being pro yid'ed with a perforation substantially directly under each sleeve opening, a crotch panelinsert depending'from the bottom"edge or one of the shirt member taneis,,,a nda trousers panel ap:

'pi'oir'iinately-Ias..wide as, each of the shirt member 'beconn'ect'ed"together outside the'shirt memher and opposite said free edge of the trousers panel to support said trousers panel across the entire width of the lower part of the trunk of the wearer and inside the other panel of the shirt member after said trousers panel has been passed between the legs of the wearer and raised inside the shirt member to bring its free edge substantially to the level of the Waistband zone.

2. A garment as claimed in claim 1, in which the' crotch panel insert and the trousers panel depend from the rear panel of the shirt member and in'which the trousers panel is supported across the entire front of the lower part of the trunk of thewearer with the belt members con-. nected together behind the wearer.

3.".A garment as claimed in claim l, in which 0 Number the. crotch panel insert andthe trousers panel dependfr'omjthe frontpanel of the shirt mem her and in which the trousers panel is supported across the entireflbackof the lower part of the trunk of the wearer with the" belt members connected together in front of the wearer.

4. A garment as claimed in claim 1, including fasteners adaptedto connect to the lower side edges of one of the shirt member panels the outer side edges of the. trousers panel when the trousers panel is supported as defined by said claim, whereby said trousers panel is held expanded laterally across the lower part of the trunk of thewearer.

5. A garment as claimed in claim 1, in which the crotch panel insert is formed of bias-cut material. V I

6. A garment as claimedin claim 1, in which the crotch panel insert is formed of bias-cut niaterial "having angularly-related upper edges stitched to the margins of a slit cut upwardly from the'bottom edge of one of the shirt member panels. 1 v

BERTICE PAULINE GARRISON.

} REFERENCES CITED Thefollowing references are of" record in the Beck June 8, 1926 Craig Feb. 24, 1931 Ellerbeck et al Sept. 6, 1932 Rieflannacht Sept. 4, 1934 jl Jorirnan Mar. 18, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date 

